One of UConn’s biggest women’s basketball stars and possibly UConn women’s basketball biggest villain each made news yesterday.
Diana Taurasi (UConn 2004) was suspended by the WNBA for two games for her inappropriate conduct towards the game officials during the game on Friday night against Detroit. She was notified Saturday by the league about her suspension. She will miss games Today (Sunday) and Saturday against the Houston Comets.
Taurasi flipped her lid in the games final seconds. Taurasi tried to get open for a final shot but Plenette Pierson stood between her and the ball. Pierson then fell to the floor, referee Michael Price blew his whistle and the Mercury never got the last chance to tie the game.
Taurasi charged Price irate, screaming and gesturing as Mercury assistant coach Corey Gaines got between the two trying to remove Dee.
Dee, who as we know never fails to hide her displeasure, didn’t stop there. “He’s terrible,” Taurasi said of Price. “That doesn’t surprise me. He is what he is. We played so hard for 40 minutes and not even get a chance at the end to make a play. They just took it away from us. That’s complete (bull).”
“She flopped and she does it the whole game,” said Taurasi, who finished with only 15 points and eight assists. “She flops and flops and flops and they keep giving her calls. It should be like in soccer where if you flop you get a red card, you get the penalty.”
“If you’re going to decide a game (with a foul) then people are going to stop coming to the games,” Taurasi said. “The way they’re calling games this year, less people are going to come watch.
Nice to see Dee learned post game commenting from Geno as well.
Meanwhile on Friday night in Tennessee, Summitt, who was once listed in Sports Illustrated as Connecticut’s biggest sports villain, got dizzy and fainted at her house. She was transported to a local hospital and held overnight for observation.
She was released Saturday morning.
Doctor’s say she was dehydrated possibly from conducting several basketball clinics in non-air conditioned facilities.
She probably fainted over the stress of canceling the UConn series but something tells me Geno will be blamed for the lack of A/C and for stealing Pat’s water bottle.
